Transfer of HMW-glutenin subunits from wild wheats into Triticum durum and improvement of quality

High molecular weight (HMW) glutenin subunits of Glu-A1 locus from 15 different accessions from four wild Triticum species, two diploid (T. urartu and T. boeoticum) and two tetraploid (T. dicoccoides and T. araraticum) have been transferred to T. durum cv. PBW34 lacking Glu-A1 subunits through backcross breeding and half seed analysis using SDS-PAGE. Results showed that transfer of subunits from Glu-A1 locus has significant effect on processing and nutritional quality of T. durum derivatives. The transfer of both Ax and Ay subunits from two accessions of T. urartu into T. durum cv. PBW34 resulted in significant increase in gluten strength as indicated by sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) sedimentation value (45 to 61 nil) with an average increase of 41.2 per cent over T. durum cv. PBW34. The mean increase in SDS-sedimentation values of T. durum derivatives carrying Glu-A1 alleles from different accessions of T. boeoticum, T. dicoccoides and T. araraticum was 37.1, 36.6 and 27.1 per cent, respectively. The Glu-A1 subunits also increased the protein content of the durum derivatives on an average by 24.3 per cent against the recurrent durum parent. The work to recover the recurrent T. durum background completely and to transfer the novel HMW-glutenin subunits to T. aestivum cultivar PBW343 is in progress.